Rhinos v Saints - Teams

Maurie Fa'asavalu returns to the St Helens squad for their top-of-the-table clash with Leeds Rhinos at Headingley on Friday night - which is being shown live on Sky Sports.

The England and Great Britain forward sustained a broken arm in the 40-26 win over Warrington back in mid-July and was expected to be out for between 10-12 weeks.

However, he has made a quicker than expected recovery and should start on the bench for the visitors, whilst Keiron Cunningham, Bryn Hargreaves and Kyle Eastmond are also named by Saints coach Mick Potter.

"It's good to get Maurie back as he adds a bit of spark from the bench," Potter stated. "Keiron Cunningham is okay, Andrew Dixon has recovered from his hamstring strain, and Bryn and Kyle are also available. Jonny Lomax and Gary Wheeler are also coming back to fitness."

However, Chris Dean (hamstring) and Jason Cayless (shoulder) are still missing for the visitors, while Jon Wilkin remains a doubt with a knee injury.

Leeds have also received positive news on the injury front with Carl Ablett and Ian Kirke both back to fitness and named in Brian McClennan's 19-man party.

Ablett sat out the thumping victory at Celtic Crusaders with an ankle injury with Kirke an absentee since breaking his leg in the loss at Catalans back in June.

The two players to make way for the returning duo are Dane Manning and Kallum Watkins.

The outcome of Friday's encounter at Headingley will almost certainly decide which of the teams finishes top of the Super League table.

Both are locked together on 38 points with two games of the regular season to go, although Leeds have a substantially superior points difference at present.

Leeds 19-man squad: Webb, Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Lauitiiti, Sinfield, Diskin, Bailey, Kirke, Ablett, Burgess, Worrall, Ratu.

St Helens 19-man squad: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Meli, Pryce, Long, Cunningham, Graham, Gilmour, Wilkin, Flannery, Roby, Hargreaves, Puletua, Clough, Eastmond, Fa'asavalu, Dixon, Emmitt.